Chapter 930

Hearing Steiano offer to help, Lu Mi’s thoughts spun rapidly as he smiled and said:

“Thank you so much!”

Steiano took off his backpack and, as if performing magic, pulled out one tool after another, opening the hood of the gray sedan.

Seeing this, Franca couldn’t help groaning inwardly:

“No!”

“We were only supposed to pay a couple thousand—after you fix it, we might owe several thousand!”

She could guess why Lu Mi wanted Steiano to help: the data from the Major Arcana cards contained no projection of this high-ranking Steam Church figure in the Dream City; he seemed unimportant, unrelated to the awakening of Mr. Fool, yet had encountered the team twice—suggesting either fate’s design or some hidden uniqueness, and observing him now might yield useful guidance at a future critical moment.

For the “Witches,” this was both a logical conclusion and a spiritual intuition.

“Never mind, it’s just a dream, not reality—if Mr. Fool believes the Steam Church’s elite are skilled at repairing machines, then Steiano can fix the car…” Franca comforted herself, quietly crafting ice to dispel the heat seeping into the vehicle.

Soon, Steiano lifted his face, faintly bearded with pale yellow stubble, avoided his greasy palms, pushed his flat glasses up with the back of his hand, and said to Franca inside the car and Lu Mi outside:

“Fixed.”

Really? Don’t trick me… Franca tested it and found the vehicle restarted smoothly.

Lu Mi pulled out a mineral water bottle filled with “Hunter Witch”-brewed cooled boiled water and, beside a roadside drain, provided running water for Steiano to wash his hands and tools.

After Steiano dried his hands and packed away his tools, Lu Mi thanked him again, pulled out his phone, unlocked the screen, and said with a smile:

“Let’s add WeChat. If you ever need help, just reach out—we’ll assist if it’s within our ability.”

Steiano looked at Lu Mi seriously, then smiled and said:

“Alright.”

He immediately pulled out his own phone, letting Lu Mi add him via QR code.

After scanning, Lu Mi saw his nickname was “Electrical Energy and Information Technology.”

Strange feeling… Lu Mi waved goodbye to Steiano, returned to the gray sedan, and showed Steiano’s WeChat to Jianna and the others.

Franca glanced at it and chuckled:

“This nickname feels like a university course.”

“Check his Moments!”

This was Lu Mi’s first non-team-member WeChat friend—he’d completely forgotten Franca’s earlier suggestion to browse Moments for information.

He quickly tapped Steiano’s avatar and entered his Moments:

Today: The professor’s understanding of the concept of information is biased; information is energy, energy contains information, and one essence of every existence is a cluster of corresponding information.

“Yesterday: Found an old car—the mechanical beauty enchanted me.”

“August 13: I built a marvelous machine.”

“—Friends can only view the last three days of Moments—”

“Marvelous machine?” Lu Mi murmured in confusion. “How marvelous could it be? As a native of the Dream City, even the most marvelous machine he creates shouldn’t surpass the Dream’s inherent limits.”

“He does seem like a high-ranking Steam Church member, and he’s clearly shown effort to learn and think after encountering a more advanced civilization—this must be the underlying logic Mr. Fool’s subconscious used to construct this image,” Franca said casually as she drove the car back onto the road.

In the following time, they observed Peng Deng’s girlfriend Nie Zhen, Peng Deng’s roommate Gresha, and Zhou Mingrui’s roommate Mobet—all key targets.

Near quitting time, they returned to the building where Peng Deng worked and waited patiently for him to finish his day.

Peng Deng appeared around six in the evening and chose to take the subway back to the Heryun Residential Complex.

Franca drove Jianna and Ludwig ahead to the destination to wait, while Lu Mi and Anthony followed Peng Deng into the subway station.

Along the way, many women cast glances at Lu Mi, seemingly impressed by his looks—he’d deliberately made himself look uglier before leaving.

Of course, a few men also sneaked glances.

But Peng Deng was absorbed in his phone, utterly uninterested in whether any beauties appeared nearby, let alone attractive same-sex individuals.

“Normal handsomeness won’t attract attention unless there’s a gimmick—it won’t trend or make headlines…” Lu Mi felt somewhat reassured.

His companion Anthony was naturally ignored by everyone around.

Thanks to the “Hunter’s” tracking skills and the “Witch’s” ability to vanish into shadows at will, Lu Mi followed Peng Deng effortlessly to the vicinity of the Heryun Residential Complex.

Peng Deng didn’t head home immediately but turned toward Ankang North Road, walked to the vicinity of Xindu Garden, and entered a restaurant called “Yuzhou Small Fry.”

Lu Mi glanced around and saw Franca rolling down her window, waving at them.

When they got in the car, Franca asked Guanqie ly:

“Any findings?”

Lu Mi first shook his head, then murmured in confusion:

“Now I’m more curious about what’s on his phone—how can he keep staring at it nonstop?”

He was looking at it on the subway, on the escalator, even while walking.

“You don’t get it,” Franca sighed.

Jianna stared at the “Yuzhou Small Fry” restaurant and recalled:

“This is the restaurant Mr. Fool and Peng Deng often eat at. Wait a bit longer—Mr. Fool might show up too.”

“Should we observe their interaction?”

Lu Mi glanced at the sky outside:

“Yes.”

In this Dream City, summer dusk didn’t come until after eight.

Jianna nodded:

“I’ll buy Ludwig a roast duck—he keeps complaining he’s hungry.”

She’d already picked out dinner for Ludwig: a nearby “Fruitwood Roast Duck” shop had a sign reading “Thirty yuan per duck.”

Lu Mi looked at Ludwig, whose mouth dripped suspicious liquid, and smiled:

“Two. We’ll try some too.”

Time passed minute by minute; they’d eaten roast duck and steamed buns, but Mr. Fool’s dream avatar, Zhou Mingrui, still hadn’t appeared—Peng Deng had finished eating and was returning toward the Heryun Residential Complex.

“Does Mr. Fool want to change his taste tonight?” Franca dipped the last piece of duck-wrapped pancake in sweet soy sauce and brought it to her lips.

Gulp!

She heard a clear swallow.

Glancing at Ludwig’s longing face, Franca sighed and handed him the food.

Lu Mi turned his gaze from the window:

“Maybe he’s doing something else—I didn’t see him return to Xindu Garden.”

“Keep following?” Jianna pointed at Peng Deng’s back.

Lu Mi shook his head:

“It’s dark now—following further risks accidents.”

Franca agreed:

“The Major Arcana cards also mentioned: Peng Deng’s most suspicious behavior is that he’s never met Mr. Fool—Zhou Mingrui—after dark.”

“They’re childhood friends; grabbing a late snack or watching a movie is normal. Mr. Fool invited many times, and Peng Deng invited too—but they never managed to meet, always because Peng Deng had something come up: his girlfriend wouldn’t allow it, she suddenly fell ill, or his roommate broke the lock and they had to wait for a locksmith…”

“But when they met during the day for meals or outings, it always worked—and sometimes his girlfriend even joined.”

“Combined with the Magic Mirror’s warning to ‘beware the night,’ these details are deeply strange,” Lu Mi murmured.

Back in the rented apartment.

Seeing Lu Mi staring at the increasingly dark sky outside, lost in thought, Franca asked curiously:

“What are you thinking?”

“I want to go out tonight—like an ordinary person—and see if I encounter any anomalies or problems,” Lu Mi said carefully.

He wanted to test the boundaries of the “night problem” before formally approaching Zhou Mingrui tomorrow afternoon.

—Last night they hadn’t gone out; everything was normal.

“Like an ordinary person…” Franca’s eyes flickered as she smiled at Lu Mi and Jianna. “Let’s go watch a movie!”

Lu Mi and the others already understood the concept of movies and were curious—Franca’s suggestion was unanimously approved.

Franca immediately grinned like a fox who’d stolen a hen:

“Let’s go to a different mall—we can still scratch some lottery tickets. That’ll cover tonight’s movie tickets and popcorn.”

Not the same mall—that’d draw attention!

Hearing the word “popcorn,” Ludwig, who’d been uninterested until now, suddenly lit up.

…………

Another mall.

Franca, satisfied after winning over two thousand yuan in prizes, led her teammates toward the cinema on the fourth floor.

Passing the third floor, they saw a long queue outside a bookstore with a cozy, bourgeois vibe.

“A signing event?” Franca, newly arrived in the Dream City and curious about everything, pulled Jianna over to see which author it was.

“Queen of Romance… A Fish Without Dreams… Original Author of the Great Pirate Series…” Franca read aloud from the poster.

“That pen name is weird,” Jianna remarked.

Franca laughed:

“That’s just ordinary weird—wait till I get you an app, and you’ll see how much weirder online novel authors’ pen names get!”

As she spoke, Franca stretched on tiptoe to peer at the signing author; Lu Mi walked beside her and also looked into the bookstore.

Seconds later, as the author lifted his head, Lu Mi and Franca froze.

“What’s wrong?” Jianna noticed their reaction.

Franca replied with a strange expression:

I must not have imagined it...

How could she be the queen of romance novels...

"Who?" Jianna asked in confusion.

"The 'Magician' lady," replied Lu Mi, lowering his voice.

(End of Chapter)